Amish Shopping

Bonnie Manion

Prancing hoofs twix thin-rimmed wheels
slowly guide through patchworked farm weald,
haystacks cross-stitched next to cornstalks
are appliqued with dark green forests.
A black cab leads by a dusty backroad
out from a plain clutch of frame abodes
to a bustling tie-up by the village boardwalk
to a pungent plank-floored butcher-shop.
Haunches and cheeses hang in big chunks
beside sausages sliced in varied lengths,
smokey smells entwine the glass cases,
celebrate their delicacies.
Over hills spread gold with sunshine,
paper-wrapped and tied with twine,
aromatic Amish  parcels are borne home to gastronomic farewells.

first published in Twilight Ending, also Illinois State Poetry Society Online